[Request for Reconsideration of Opinion Concerning Applicable Airline Fares]

The General Services Administration (GSA) requested reconsideration of an opinion concerning applicable airline fares. GAO had held that: (1) the government is entitled only to the fare selected at time of reservation; and (2) if, in its audit, GSA sought to apply a fare other than an otherwise applicable fare shown on the ticket, it first had to establish that the fare it sought to apply was requested by the government or that the government was contractually entitled to that fare. In its request for reconsideration, GSA contended that: (1) the government was entitled to the lowest fare for which it qualified at the time of ticket issuance; (2) demand for the lowest fares from the airlines had been made through various GSA regulations and contracts; (3) the burden of proof of non-availability of controlled capacity seats was on the airlines; and (4) airline computer reservations did not assure that the lowest fare was billed. GAO held that: (1) under the airlines' deregulated pricing system, the decisions that held that the government was entitled to the lowest published tariff rate as a matter of law were not applicable; and (2) prior decisions placed the burden on the airlines to show that a particular fare was not available only if the government showed that it requested a lower fare than was charged. Accordingly, the original decision was affirmed.